This invention is an improvement on the Envelope Sealing Device disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 1,996,289 (Apr. 2, 1935), which discloses a device comprising a moistened felt pad held between two hinged plates which plates are held together by a screw when in use. Water is fed to the felt pad from a rubber bulb retained within a knob or handle for the device.
Another earlier envelope moistening device of Baker U.S. Pat. No. 1,038,265 shows a moistening pad to which moisture is fed from a chamber which is closed at the top by a cork. An air vent is provided to admit water to the pad from the closed chamber. A large part of the pad is exposed at the top surface and the device is designed essentially to move the envelope to be sealed with respect to the device which is maintained stationary.
Schuh U.S. Pat. No. 2,074,811 has disclosed a device for moistening envelopes wherein the device is moved with respect to the envelope to be moistened. The device which has a base 4, has a smooth form so that after an envelope flap has been moistened, it can be pressed down to complete the sealing, however, the bottom of the base is interrupted by a screw. The device is provided with a felt disk to hold the moisture for moistening. Almost the entire top surface of the felt disk is exposed to the atmosphere. A spring is provided for holding an envelope flap against the moistening felt disk.
Landau U.S. Pat. No. 2,425,251 discloses a moistening pad (exposed to the atmosphere), wherein a hollow tank feeds water to the pad when rotated in a particular way with respect to a cylindrical sleeve.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved envelope sealing means of the type which is adapted to be moved relative to the envelope to wet the adhesive of the flap of the envelope and then moved with respect to the envelope to seal the moistened flap to the envelope.
Among other objects of the invention is to provide an envelope sealing device of simplified construction which is sanitary, easy to use, and which conserves its moisture content when not in use.
The objects of the invention are attained in an envelope sealing device consisting essentially of only three solid parts and a felt pad, a first part comprising a curvilinear base having a flat, uninterrupted lower surface, a peripheral rim around the upper portion adapted to hold a moistening pad and a threaded tubular projection within the rim; a second part comprising a disk or lid containing an opening fitting over the projection of the first part and a periphery which extends slightly beyond the edge of the rim of the first part; and a third part comprising a chamber with a threaded tubular extension which mates with the threaded tubular projection of the base. The pad is constructed with an opening to fit over the projection in the base. The chamber or third part is closed except for the opening of the tubular extension. The threaded tubular projection is provided with a shouldered portion to position the lid slightly above the pad and one or two openings into the pad area whereby water from the chamber will be fed to the pad by capillary attraction or in additional amounts when the device is moved horizontally; otherwise the chamber and tubular projection contains no air vent permitting flow of water when the device is at rest. The rim around the periphery of the curvilinear base has two depressed regions generally opposite one another, to permit an envelope flap to enter and exit between the lid and the moistening pad. The lid or disk contains a bead on an arcuate portion which extends between the two depressed regions of the rim of the base when the lid is in place over the pad. The bead presses the envelope flap against the moistening pad as the device is slid along the portion of the envelope below the flap. A detent or stud adapted to balance the side of the disk opposite the bead is provided, which also provides a stop limiting the rotation of the disk with respect to the base in one direction. Thus, the lid or disk can be rotated in one direction to expose the moistened pad for moistening stamps, for example, but ordinarily the entire top surface of the pad is protected against loss of moisture by vaporization and contamination by dust. The edge 16 of the base 10 takes the form of a smooth convex curve and presents a surface over which the edge of an envelope flap easily slips.
The pad may be made of flet, wick-like fabric, sponge, or any other suitable absorbent material which can be cut to fit the pad region provided within the rim of the base.
The three solid parts of the device can be made of plastic or metal, or one or more of the parts can be made of plastic and the other parts of metal. The base, which is the most complex of the three parts, is suitable for forming of plastic by injection or transfer molding, for example.
With the above and other advantageous features in view, the invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, and more particularly defined in the claims appended hereto.